On-going
series: Crisis in the Caucasus - 2008
The Russian / Georgian Conflict and Its Impact on AzerbaijanWindow on Eurasia: Original
Blog Article

Vienna, October 15 ­
Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow's outspoken representative at NATO, says
that the central task of Russian diplomacy now is not to reach
an accord with Western governments but rather to present Moscow's
position forcefully and clearly, make Russia powerful and thus
"force the West to respect and fear" it since "they
will never love us."

In an interview given to ITAR-Tass
Urals, Rogozin, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation
to NATO, said that a forceful presentation of Russia's views
will not lead to "a Cold War." Instead, he said, Moscow's
new approach reflects the reality that "there will never
be sympathy for a strong Russia" http://www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=179091

But Russia does not need the
love of the West, the Russian representative continued, it will
be enough for Russia if "they fear and respect us."
People around the world "do not love America, but they respect
it because it is big and strong, and we must become big and strong"
as well.

In the course of his interview,
Rogozin made three other points.

(1) First, he said, the United
States was behind the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, something
the Europeans were dragged into supporting. The independence
of Kosovo did not benefit them, but it did benefit the US, which
has an interest in exacerbating tensions in the region.

(2) Second, Western countries
whose governments accuse Russia of employing "disproportionate
force" in Georgia, Rogozin said, have "a point of view
[which is] incompetent and dishonest. On the one hand, he argued,
it is the United States, which has deployed disproportionate
force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the other, he noted, there
is one sense in which this charge is true, albeit in ways that
prove exactly the opposite of what those making it believe. If
Russia had responded "proportionally" to Georgia, Tbilisi
would have ceased to exist as a city and Georgia would have been
eliminated "from the face of the earth."

(3) And third, Rogozin continued,
Russia has always supported the principle of the inviolability
of borders, although Moscow appreciates that there is another
principle: the right of nations to self-determination. Both are
legitimate parts of the international system even though they
can contradict one another.

"Which is more important?"
Rogozin asked rhetorically before responding: "I consider,
he said, that the right of nations to self-determination is more
important only in one case: when a people is threatened with
physical destruction and the only means of preserving it is to
split it off into a separate state."

The Moscow representative to
NATO concluded his observation by saying that "earlier in
the [Russian] foreign ministry the chief virtue of a diplomat
was considered to be the ability to talk a great deal but not
say very much, but now the times are different. It is necessary
to bring our position to the attention of the Western community."

Unfortunately, Rogozin said,
that is not easy because Russians and Western officials "speak
different language. In our understanding, it is necessary to
speak the truth while the Western political tradition is different:
they think one thing, say another, and do yet a third. And when
you tell them that they are hypocrites, they respond by saying
"yes."

Rogozin is not a professional
diplomat. Before being appointed to Brussels, he was a nationalist
politician. But his remarks obviously reflect the views that
some of the most senior officials in the Russian capital want
delivered, either to see how the West will react or to demonstrate
if there is no condemnation of what he said, that Moscow can
act with impunity.